Japan’s banks have struck a series of deals in the region over the past decade. The latest, announced two weeks ago, is from Bank of Ayudhya Pcl, a Thai unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. The lender, also known as Krungsri, will acquire consumer finance businesses of Netherlands-based Home Credit NV in Indonesia and the Philippines for about 474 million euros ($673.74 million).
Few things excite bankers more than a youthful consumer market, which Japan has long stopped being. And although a Tokyo financier never had much of a chance in Shanghai because of historical reasons, even China’s population has aged.
Southeast Asia, where the Japanese are seen favorably as the region’s largest infrastructure investor, is a more natural choice for basking in robust credit demand and high profitability. But going abroad is easier than making a go of a business overseas. For the latter, the Japanese may need to emulate a family-run Singapore bank.
